326 AMERICAN SNIPE. 



species to so zealous and successful a student of nature. I have, how- 

 ever, been surprised that he should not have mentioned the difference in 

 the notes of the two species, which in fact is as great as that between those 

 of the American Crow and the Carrion Crow of Europe. A decided 

 difference of this kind I am always disposed to consider as satisfactory in 

 the case of nearly allied species. While glancing over some of the num- 

 berless compilations that are pouring their muddy waters into the great 

 stream of human knowledge, I was somewhat surprised to find in one of 

 them an account of the American Snipe, in which it is stated that it is a 

 winter- visitant in the northern States, and will most probably breed far- 

 ther south, without leaving the country ! 



The American Snipe is easily caught in snares placed on the spots of 

 mud which it is wont to probe, and a good number are thus obtained by 

 the farmers' children, especially during very cold weather, when, the birds 

 having become emaciated from want of a good supply of food, they re- 

 sort to the small warm springs of our meadows, and there remain until 

 the return of milder weather. At such times and places, I have heard 

 this bird utter various curious notes, which I am unable to describe, put- 

 ting themselves into strange postures all the while, jerking their tails up- 

 wards, downwards, and sideways, for several seconds at a time, while the 

 head and neck were moved backwards and forwards, as if the bird had 

 been in a fit. I never saw this during warm weather, and am unable to 

 account for it. 



It arrives in Pennsylvania from the south about the middle of March, 

 earlier or later according to the nature of the season, a month later in 

 Maine, and about a week or ten days after in Nova Scotia. We neither 

 saw nor heard of any in Newfoundland or Labrador, but they are abun- 

 dant in the interior of the northern parts of the Canadas. 



The young acquire the full plumage of the adult the first year after their 

 birth, when no essential difference is perceptible between the sexes, the 

 female being merely somewhat larger than the male. My friend Thomas 

 MacCulloch, who has not unfrequently found this bird breeding, and 

 from whom I have received many of its eggs, was unable to say whether 

 both sexes incubate, although this is very probable, as the male is often 

 seen with or near the female while she is sitting, excepting towards evening 

 or in the early part of the morning, when he mounts into the air, as if for 

 the purpose of congratulating her by his curious song. It often happens 

 that before these birds depart in spring, many are already mated. The 



